Butter-cutter



(No Model.)

H. M. CAIN.

BUTTER CUTTER.

No. 398,879. Patented Mar. 5, 1889.

//V VEIVTORI //6@@ By ATTORNEY Lil niTnn STATES PATENT Orrion.

HARRY M. CAL", OF DENVER, COLORADO.

BUTTER-CUTTER.

S'PEGIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 898,879, dated March 5, 1889.

Application filed July 3, 1888- Serial No. 278,976- (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HARRY 3i. CAIN, a citizen of the United States 0 at Denver, in the county of Arapahoe and Am erica, residi n g specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

therein for their passage.

My invention relates to a novel device or 1 I o l machine for cutting butter into pats orlumps and extracting the so-cut lump or pat; and its object is to provide a simple and effective device by the use of which pats orlumps of but ter may be cut in symmetrical or regular shape from larger mas es of butter, such as is contained or packed in tubs, firkins, large rolls, &c., and then removed from such larger mass in such symmetrical or regular shape, and which lump or pat may, if desired,be cut of a Weight approximating a desired weight-- a device economical in manufacture, easy of use, reliable in operation, not liable to derangement, and reliable; to which ends the invention consists in the features more particularly hereinafter described and claimed.

In the drawings is illustrated an apparatus embodying the invention, in which drawings Figure 1. is a side elevation of such an apparatus; Fig. 2, a central vertical section thereof; Fig. 3, a perspective view of the knife used.

In the figures the reftrence-numeral 1 indicates an open-ended cylinder forming the cutting-cylinder, and of a diameter equal to the diameter desired for the pat or lump to be cut or formed, and of a depth or length equal to that of the largest pat or lump desired to be out or formed. To enable it to be readily forced into and penetrate a mass of butter, its lower edge should be somewhat sharpen ed, as shown by the bevel or taper 2. At its upper edge is an internal screw-thread, 3, in which take the threads of the 'ap or cover at, closing that end of the cutting-cylinder 1. Such cap or cover might be made integral with the cylinder; but the construction indicated is preferable, in that the parts may be readily disassociated when desired, the more easily and thoroughly to cleanse the operative parts. From the cap 4 rises the curved loop-handle 5, secured to or formed therewith, and by which the apparatus may be grasped for use. it-11in the cylinder is placed the follower head or piston 6, adapted or fitted to readily slide therein, and. connected by two or more rods, 8, to a ring or washer, '7, upon the outside of the head or cap 4, the rods 8 sliding through suitable apertures left or formed Passing througl'i apertures left or formed in the followerorpiston head 6, the cap 4-, and the upper part of the handle 5 is a knife-rod, i), fitted to readily move or slide in such apertures. Atitslower end this rod carries the knife 10, turning in its scat upon its pivot 11, seated in the rod. As shown in Fig. 3, the pivot 11 of this knife is placed at or near the thinner or cutting edge, so that normally the back or thicker or heavier edge falls to the bottom, and so that if it be attempted to turn the knife-rod and knife against a resistance, as that of a mass of butter, the resistance will so swingt-he knife as to place the cutting-edge to the front or in the direction it is desired to turn the rod and the knife.

Above the ring or washer 7 and below the top of the handle 5 a stop-pin, 123, projects from or is passed through the rod 9, limiting the amount of its movement in either direction, while upon the upper and outer end of the rod any suit-able handle, 12, may be secured for the ready manipulation of the rod and its attached knife.

The operation is as follows: The handle 5 is grasped, and in such manner that the stoppin 13 is also grasped, holding the rod 9 and knife 10 stationary, and the cylinder 1 is then forced down in the butter to the appropriate or the designated depth, the follower or piston head 6 being forced inward by the butter entering the cylinder. After the cylinder has been forced into what is deemed a sufficient depth, the knife-rod f) is forced down until the cutting-edge of the knife is on a line or about on a line with the bottom edge of the cylinder, and the rod is then turned. As before explained, the knife immediately turns on its pivot, presenting its cutting-edge, so that as the knife-rod is turned the knife sweeps in a circle whose radius is the length of the knife, which is just sufficient to clear the interior of the cylinder. This cuts the butter within the cylinder loose or away from the remaining body, and the cylinder is then withdrawn. The piston head or follower being now pushed outwardly by means of the ring 7, the butter is ejected from the cylinder 1, remaining, however, between the knife 10 and the followerhead 6. The rod and knife are now drawn back through the butter to the head and the butter then cut or removed from the latter in a symmetrical pat or lump.

The cylinder 1 need not necessarily be a cylinder or circular in cross-section, but may in cross-section be of any regular symmetrical shape, and it may be gagedso as to contain approximately or on the average a certain definite amount of butter. Graduations 14 may be arranged upon the rod 9 or upon the handle 5, to indicate approximately the amount of butter within the cylinder, forcing the follower or head back; or the graduations may be arranged to indicate the position of the knife to cut off approximately a given weight of butter. \Vhile the cap 4 takes in an internal thread, 3, in the cylinder 1, it is evident that such cap may be flanged and be seated upon the cylinder by a thread upon the exterior of the 9, having handle 12, and knife 10, pivoted by pivot 11 in the rod and atright angles thereto to automatically turn and present its edge in the direction of movement of the knife, sub stantially as set forth.

I11 testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses HARRY M. CAIN.

V itn esses:

Z. F. WILBER, H. B. HARRIS. 

